Page 53 of Frayed Owner

And failing miserably. The look on Taylor’s face daring the guy to touch him again even scaredme.

“That ismy magicon those sheds, and an agreement was made for that,” I said firmly, relieved with Councilman Oliveria next to me. “And as of this moment, there will be no more treat truck dates at Demeter University.” I smirked at the headmaster. “You overplayed your hand. How long until the board, faculty, andstudentsdemand your resignation?”

He struggled to keep his composure but had to with all of the cameras around or he probably knew he’d be out of a job before he could try to clean up his mess. He should be anyways.

I gave the koala another kiss, my heart breaking when he didn’t want me to let him go. He kept hugging me asking if we could play longer when I squatted down with him.

I blinked back tears. “I’m sorry, little one. I have to go. I’m sorry the gods gave you to someone who doesn’t deserve you. It’s not your fault. You are a good boy and a wonderful familiar. Maybe soon he will be a good warlock to you again.”

“Where is Bevin Shaw?” someone called out when we were moving to the transportation circle someone was setting.

I put on my best mask and acted unbothered. “BevinMillenis at school and—” I flipped around and acted worried. “Why? What did you hear? Is something happening—”

The reporter smirked at me. “What’s your name? Information isn’t free.”

“No, but making up problems for you to supposedly solve them is fraud.” I glanced at his press credential, saying his name and station out loud. “You’re banned. Your whole family.” I glanced over at Tracey. “And let’s pull our advertising budget for the next month from that station. I’m done letting this bad behavior go unpunished.”

“Agreed,” she said firmly.

We circled away before people could fully react to that bomb being dropped, Councilman Oliveria handling the circle so no one could try and trace it or read the magic. It was very,veryagainst the law to do that when it was a circle set by someone who worked for the council.

Well, the police too, but they were so damn corrupt that half the time they gave out the information… For a price.

I was so disappointed by what happened that I couldn’t handle what was going on inside of me. None of that had to happen, and that familiar’s pain and sadness were swirling inside of me.

“No, don’t cry,” Emma said as she grabbed me. “Don’t let them win. Getangry.”

“I am, but it also hurts!” I snapped, wanting to shove her away but couldn’t hurt her or Tracey who was taking all the magic off of me.

“Then let it out. Use your magic like I can’t. Shoot a tree or something. Just let it out in a way that is productive so you are in control,” she pushed.

“What the hell happened?” Mrs. Reid demanded, having been waiting at my house for her session.

“Things took a bad turn,” Taylor told her. “It will be all over the news soon and it’s going to be a problem.”

“Not helping,” I shouted. Then the setting sun cut through the tree branches in a funny way and I had a flash of a memory. Feeling this before. This mixture of pain and anger. Alex had hurt a familiar of someone who worked for us and I felt the pain. I broke Emma’s hold and turned to Tracey. “Take me to the new land.”

“It’s not ours yet. We have two weeks until closing and—”

“Tracey, take me there!” I shouted. “Take me to where we’re going to start. Now!”

She did it without another word, worry just about vibrating off of her. The second we were there, I moved away from everyone and knelt down on the ground. I put my hands in the dirt so my fingers were spread apart and let out all of my magic, yelling in frustration as I did.

I let out the pain, disappointment—everything that had been swirling in me for so long and just kept building. As much of it as I could without hurting myself.

I sat back on my feet and then plopped onto my butt, meeting Tracey’s shocked gaze even if she was a bit fuzzy. “That was how it started. I remember now.”

“What did you do, Bev?” she whispered. “The ground shook.”

I thought about it and nodded. “Yeah, Grandfather said that. He teased me that I was a little earthquake maker, but I couldn’t ever do it again, especially not at home because they would know then.”

“What did you do, poppet?” Councilman Oliveria asked gently as he knelt down next to me.

“I planted the seed of magic here,” I mumbled, feeling tired. “That’s what Grandfather called it. He found it in a book. He didn’t know at first either, but that’s how it started. That’s how fixing the estate started. I’d forgotten about that. He wanted me to forget it because—”

“It’s another fucking reason everyone in our world will try to abduct you or kill you if they can’t have you,” Taylor grumbled.

“You are getting a spanking later and not one you will enjoy,” Tracey snapped.

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